I think Orson Scott Card saw success with the first two books and tried to ride the wave with this one, and failed. I had no idea that it was the first half of the 3rd book. It was wordy and long winded, but very little happened plot-wise.

If you’ve listened to books by Orson Scott Card before, how does this one compare?

Ender's Game was great, Speaker for the Dead was good, but this was bad.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Three of the main characters are Chinese, so the narrators used various forms of broken Chinese English that was painful to listen to. It was almost laughable, and potentially borderline racist. It was like a SNL skit with someone faking a Chinese accent. awful.

Any additional comments?

This book was a waste of my time. Maybe, if you want to follow the Ender series, skip this book and go straight to the fourth book.

This book was very longwinded. I enjoyed most of it but it really dragged on at times. I am looking at the Ender series as a whole and I suggest listening to the first three. The story is great it just takes so long to get there. Still, I will listen to the last book in the series because Ender is a very good story.

Everyone who wrote that this book is long-winded and not nearly as good as Ender's Game, they weren't lying. It's not worth the read. I loved Ender's Game, liked Speaker for the Dead and, for the most part, didn't link Xenocide. My advice, go out on a high note and stop at Ender's Game (though I haven't read any of the Shadow series)

While "Ender's game" was excellent reading and "Speakr for the Dead" was still fairly good one Xenoside falls apart quickly. This book makes it hands down to top 10 of most boring books I have ever read/listened. I think I am now scared away from Orson Scott Card for good. Stick to first 2 books and unless you find something charming of his style don't bother with rest of it.

Would you be willing to try another book from Orson Scott Card? Why or why not?

This is the end for me in the series of Ender. The social, political, and religious context of the books that follow Ender's Game have moved too far away from what made Ender's Game such a wonderful read. This book was long and predictable. It was a good story, but at the end I was not drawn to quickly pick up the next book in the series. The way the story ended, one would think that I should be. I doubt there will be any movie rights sold for any books beyond Ender's Game.

All of the deep complexity of Ender and his family seems to have been lost in this book. I like seeing whats going on with the Hive queen and the piggies but the chapters with Qing-Jao are honestly just painful. All of the intellectual quandaries and debates that the first two books seem to have been replaced by a lexicon of logical fallacies that scott card seems to be trying to push as some higher moral standard that just falls short and belittles the growth and intelligence of his characters from the first two books. I would list specifics however I do not wish to spoil any thing for people. This book has me very nervous for the rest of the series, and I may not finish the series if the books keep going this direction.

With that being said, The narration as usual is AAA+ Stefan Rudnicki is perhaps one of my favorite narrators and the rest of the cast were great as well.

I loved Enders game and Speaker for the dead, I just hope the books after Xenocide are better

Would you try another book from Orson Scott Card and/or the narrators?

Maybe, perhaps,Xenocide worked well keeping me interested in Ender Wiggins. But Xenocide didn't close the story line. It abruptly ended. To find the conclusion, you had to read the next book in the series. Perhaps I don't read enough series books to know that's how the story written works. Others I've read ended the current story plot. Yet there were loose ends left for exploration.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

disappointed.

Did Xenocide inspire you to do anything?

Move to a different author

Any additional comments?

Orson Scott Card is an exceptional author. I read several Tails of Alvan Maker too. Both story's seem to get very strange after a few books.

I loved the first two books in the series, and the actual storyline of this book was to an extent good. I also didn't have any real problems with the various accents used in narration either; there are many characters and storylines so distinct accents are helpful in keeping the story in context.

However, the author took side trips to nowhere that were really self indulgent for the author and pointless to the reader, and seemed more to want to convince the reader of his own view of the creation of the universe than to tell the continuing story of Ender and the circumstances in his life. In the end, I felt like I was listening to a recorded internal debate, not a fictional story. The author's personal ramblings went on and on until I literally found myself groaning out loud and begging for the diatribe to end.

If the author had simply stuck to the story telling and less to the lecturing on his own personal view of what "life is" this would have been an enjoyable listen, as it stands...it can only be described as good in places, painfully boring at times, and grating on the nerves at other times.

If it helps, Children of the Mind (the next in the series) has the same ramblings but not quite as bad.

I take your reviews seriously. And so, I am writing to you in all seriousness. I believe you will be better off listening to Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, then quitting this series. Why? A myriad of reasons, but let me name a few:

First, the Catholic dogma in Xenocide is absolutely grating on one's intellect, patience, and the storyline. There must be several hours of this audiobook where we have to endure the perturbations and guilt of fictional Catholics struggling to find a symbiotic relationship between faith and science. Moral dilemmas in this book are (unfortunately) religious first, and ethical second.

The book does not finish the story that the author spends 3/4 of the text developing. Even as an audio book it is a slog to finally reach the story apex, only to find out that the main storyline is sidetracked (until the next book) for some sideshow ending that will not be brought up again in the sequel.

Last...I must admit that I cannot stomach the incessant arguing and bickering that the characters do as they jockey for position, mother love, deal with personal guilt, and massage over-developed egos. It was, in truth, a bore.

Save your credits for something that the author intended to write, not something he mashed together to make this a series (originally) a trilogy (his words, not mine). It became a quartet only for the sake of garnering more sales. Xenocide was never a planned part of the Ender story. That much is obvious!